sponge baths!

i just had to share these two pictures.  even at 2am, baby baths are awesome.

the first couple weeks.

time is so precious. isn't it? each moment is so fleetingly beautiful when you have a newborn in your arms and a toddler at your feet. these first two weeks have been challenging, with hazel whipping out the big guns with a new level of tantrums, wanting to be held, and refusing play dates outright (which i force her to go to anyway, poor moms of her friends have to deal with a couple minutes of crying in the car until she gets over it....). it's also been challenging because hazel often needs me when i am feeding cora, and i'm sure it's not easy for her to wait. and to top it all off, i am exhausted.

but, challenges aside, this has been a treasured, remarkable thing for our family. hazel has gone from completely ignoring her baby sister to acknowledging her throughout the day, "baby co!", to kissing her forehead and pointing at her tiny feet, fingers, etc. things have actually gone better than i could have hoped on that front. 

i am so tremendously grateful to mimi, grandpa, and honey who all came out and took care of us while i was recovering.  we neglected to get a picture of grandpa with cora while he was here, but we will make up for it when they come visiting in the next couple days!

here is honey with grandbaby #2!

life lately:

here are some photos of our simple little life lately.

things i am loving about life lately:

endless snuggles from cora girl

archer farms peanut butter monster trail mix

binge-watching friends on netflix

having tons of leftovers in the fridge so i never have to cook

walks outside with the girls in the beautiful weather

summer online shopping

reading books to hazel in her tent 

this poor girl gets hiccups at least three or four times a day.  here's a set i recorded a couple weeks ago in the hospital:

hiccups from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

hazel meets cora, and other hospital things

mimi brought hazel over to the hospital the day cora was born, right after her nap.  john was holding cora when they walked in, and i had hazel come sit on the bed with me and play for a minute.  she could tell something was up, and kept looking around skeptically.  we brought cora over to the bed to introduce them, and hazel just stared and stared at her.  we talked about how the baby was once in my tummy, but now she was out and we got to take her home!  still, silence.  i think she was pretty overwhelmed.  when we asked hazel if she wanted to hold her baby sister, she seriously protested.  and then we attempted a family photo:

you can see how hazel felt about this.

i am happy to report that since their first encounter, hazel has seriously warmed up to cora.  she gets spontaneous kisses and acknowledgement throughout the day, but hazel has still refused to hold her.  but, there has been no hitting or being mean to the baby.  i would call that a serious win!

some more pictures from the hospital:

mimi holding cora for the first time!

cora after her first bath:

look at that hair!

furry arms & cheeeeks:

um, i take lots of pictures.

welcoming cora into the world

i am one of those people that never really believes i am actually in labor.  so when i woke up around 3am on the morning of march 6th with painful contractions, i brushed it off as the false labor i had experienced multiple nights since i was about 37 weeks pregnant.  but, when i showered, did my hair, ate, and walked around and my contractions didn't stop for the better part of two hours, i woke up john and told him to shower, because i might be in labor.  i called the on-call physician to ask him to tell me if i was in labor.  he said, "if you are talking to me and laughing through a contraction, then i doubt you are in labor..."

well, that was all i needed to convince myself that this wasn't real.  even though my contractions were fairly regular and about 5-10 minutes apart, i apologized to a now showered john and told him to go back to sleep.  i then laid down and drifted in and out of sleep in between contractions until the morning.  my doctor called and said he had heard i had talked to the on-call doc.  he advised me to come in, because he knows i have a high pain tolerance.  it's a good thing he told me to go into the hospital to be evaluated, because if not, i might not have given myself enough time to get i.v. antibiotics (group b strep is the worst, isn't it?)

the entire way to the hospital, i kept telling john how embarrassed i was going to be when they sent me home... and how i still didn't think i was in labor.  

this is me in triage, still not believing i'm in labor, and still feeling slightly embarrassed for coming in.  

it wasn't until john started watching the contraction monitor, and telling me they were consistently 4-5 minutes apart, that i started to believe this was the real thing.  our excitement grew, and when the nurse checked me and announced i was dilated to a 6 or 7.... we were blown away.  it was baby time!

they admitted me, gave me antibiotics, and i could tell things were progressing fairly quickly.  i walked the halls and john was supportive, helped me through contractions by pushing on my hips, etc.  i wanted them to just break my water so i could have things go quickly, but because the antibiotics need to be in your system for 4 hours before they break your water, they were going to let things run their course.  i had talked to my mom on the phone an hour or so earlier and she said, "the second you decide you can't do it anymore, you literally have like 12 contractions to get through and then the baby will be here."  well, she was right, because i got an epidural and i was complete and my water broke right after that.  i just said to john, "what's the point of this?" and called in the anesthesiologist.  {i think maybe i just wanted to go natural to prove to myself that i could do it.  i wanted to be tough enough.  i had no regrets though, and still don't.}  

after my water broke, the nurse came back in and started setting up for delivery.  the doctor had just walked away from the building after seeing me, and literally turned right back around to come do the delivery.

pushing this time was much easier.  i probably pushed through 4 or 5 contractions but i really can't remember.  it's such a strange feeling having a baby.  at one point the doctor asked me if i wanted to feel her head and i'm like, "really?! her head is literally right there?" it's so amazing and unbelievable at the same time. 

and then she was here.

screaming mad and covered in so much vernix.

they put her on my chest first thing, and the floodgates opened of course.  i'm not much of a crier, but i make an exception at the birth of my babies.  such an emotional, beautiful thing.

john got to cut the cord...

and after a few minutes of cora smearing vernix all over my face, they took her away to weigh her.  i was surprised to hear she was nearly an entire pound smaller than hazel was at 7lbs 4oz!

i love how infants get cuter and cuter the longer they are out.  because she looks cute in these photos, but in my opinion, has only gotten and cuter and cuter each day since.

daddy holding cora for the first time.  {this pic is blurry because i had the labor shakes when i took it...}

those first few hours are so wonderful and precious.  i will treasure them forever.  happy birthday cora mae!

Cora Mae Brunt

Sweet Cora Mae joined our family on March 6th, 2015 at 2:01pm. She is 7lbs 4oz and 20.5 inches long. We are loving getting to know her sweet spirit and soak in delicious newborn snuggles. To say we are over the moon would be an understatement. We are so in love.

happy birthday to our hazel girl!

as you can see, hazel loves her new birthday present.

i can't believe our hazelnut is two!  what an amazing two years it has been.  i have loved every challenging, tiring, hilarious, beautiful moment of it.  hazel is currently obsessed with big hero 6.  we have moved on from tangled and frozen and are into baymax these days.  it is relieving and refreshing to have a new obsession, but i am nearly ready to move onto another one because i can quote the whole movie now.  hazel didn't really understand how to "blow" out her candles, and made a really funny face when she finally accomplished the task.  but she loved the cinnamon chocolate cake!  mimi and grandpa are in town now, and it's amazing to have them here!  now we can all relax and let the baby come.  can't wait to see how our B is as a big sister!